Delivering a keynote speech after the opening ceremony of the one-day ArtBiz Asia Forum at The Venetian Macao in Cotai, Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) President Leong Wai Man said yesterday that the bureau was striving to promote Macau’s appropriate economic diversification with four objectives, namely making effective use of its historical and cultural resources to innovate the cultural tourism experience, revitalising and using cultural facilities and spaces, expanding the influence of arts festivals to build a city of culture and arts, and strengthening cultural dissemination to create the image of “Cultural Macau”.
The second edition of the forum took part in collaboration with the Asian IR Expo which kicked off on Tuesday and will end today, covering extensive and diverse topics focusing on the trends that bring together art tourism, technology art, public art and art & entertainment, among others.
“Macau is rich in cultural resources”, Leong said, pointing out that the Historic Centre of Macau was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005, with a total of 159 properties and 70 intangible items currently on Macau’s cultural heritage list. She promised that the bureau will make good use of these resources.
Leong also said that it was necessary to “dig deep” into the cultural connotation of Macau and make good use of the characteristics of the city where the Western culture blends with the Chinese culture, as well as its high-quality historical and cultural resources, and to combine the integrated development model of “culture+”, so as to enrich the innovative elements of the cultural and creative industry.
She added that in order to further expand the dissemination and impact of local cultural creations, lay a solid foundation for Macau’s cultural development and the growth of the city’s cultural and creative industry, help promote the development of industrial diversification and create a cultural brand for the city, it was also important to connect all sectors of civil society in conjunction with the advantages and strengths of the city’s integrated resorts (IRs) to create synergistic effects.
According to Leong, with the aim of continuously promoting Macau as a location for movie and television productions, the bureau will continuously optimise its application process for filming permits, set up a dedicated coordination team for large-scale filming projects, while also establishing a “Macau film and television special website” to allow film and television production units elsewhere to learn about Macau’s rich cultural resources.
Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) President Leong Wai Man speaks to reporters on the sidelines of yesterday’s ArtBiz Asia Forum at The Venetian Macao in Cotai. – Photo: William Chan
